[TLBSHOW]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/834673/posts?page=

[Timesink]

Ooh, thanks for that link. I never saw that one. That's a nasty looking photo.

[rs79bm]

Reading through all these posts I see a bunch of pessimists. Of course, SOMETHING could have been done, but it wasn't "deemed" an emergency. I can think of two or three things that could have saved human lives. 1) we could have sent up Atlantis to get them, which would have been capable of launch, 2) we could have kept them up there an additional week or so until a contingency plan was developed, or 3) we could have developed a plan to hitch them a ride on the international space station. All three, albeit, remote, would have given them a hopes chance of surviving. Instead, it was deemed to be of non-inportance by NASA and the excuse I heard yesterday was utterly incomprehensible: "ALthough we expected tile damage, there was absolutely nothing we could do about it". I don't know about you, but that excuse doesn't fly in my book.

[DCPatriot]

How in the hell...after all these advances in technology, are the insulation tiles *STILL* glued on with silicone?

Why isn't the entire Orbiter's belly ONE PIECE??

[KneelBeforeZod]

that picture isn't from the shuttle. unless you can explain how that part doesn't match anything on the shuttle, and why they are so far from the earth in that picture.